Nearly 15% of CIT GAP Funds’ Portfolio Companies Have Been Founded by or Include Veteran Executives and Entrepreneurs

Herndon, VA, Nov. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) is proud to join the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in celebrating and empowering service members during the sixth annual National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW). CIT believes that veterans bring unique experience and missions to the small business community of Virginia and is proud to count 35 veteran founders and c-suite executives spread across 32 of 219 CIT GAP Funds portfolio companies. Bolstered by the formation of the Virginia Founders Fund in 2018, CIT maintains a strong commitment to continue investing in veteran entrepreneurs.

“We have created a legacy of supporting veteran-owned and veteran-led startups in this region, and are proud to see the success they’ve had over the last few years,” said Ed Albrigo, President and CEO of CIT. “We are committed to continue supporting these great and important companies through our Virginia Founders Fund, which increases access to capital for startups founded by women, people of color, veterans, and companies based outside Northern Virginia.”

NVSBW, taking place Nov. 4-8, 2019, celebrates veteran, service member, and military spouse small business owners nationwide. According to a recent report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), American veterans continue to play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial landscape, despite a decline in entrepreneurship in the United States. In fact, about 1 in 10 small businesses in the U.S. are owned by a military veteran, which equates to nearly 2.5 million small businesses across the country.

Of CIT GAP Funds’ 32 veteran-owned or -led companies, DroneUp, Dark Cubed, and Distil Networks, are just a few examples of the impact these entrepreneurs are having on their industries:

• Virginia Beach, Va.-based DroneUp, the creator of a patent-pending platform that organizes drone pilots into a network that serves commercial markets, government agencies, and public safety organizations, was awarded a multi-state, first-of-its-kind contract by the Commonwealth of Virginia in August to provide drone services to state agencies, institutions of higher education, and other public entities. 
• Alexandria, Va.-based Dark Cubed, developer of a SaaS platform that deploys instantly and delivers enterprise-grade threat identification and protection, announced their acquisition of Charlottesville-based Fenris IV Incorporated in February to bring together an experienced security operations team of leaders and analysts as well as a technology stack delivered as a cloud-based service, which eliminates the need for expensive on-premise hardware and software solutions.
• Arlington, Va.-based Distil Networks, developer of a wide range of bot management tools, was acquired by Redwood Shores, Ca.-based Imperva in June to create Imperva Bot Management, which protects websites, mobile applications, and APIs from automated threats without affecting the flow of business-critical traffic, making it a key component in Imperva’s market-leading, full stack application security solution.

“These three companies represent a fraction of what our 32 veteran-owned and -led portfolio companies have been able to accomplish, and we are proud to honor them during National Veterans Small Business Week,” said Thomas Weithman, Managing Director of CIT GAP Funds and Chief Investment Officer at MACH37. “They have made strides in a wide range of industries helping further the Commonwealth’s economy and create hundreds of jobs. CIT is committed to providing continuous support to these companies, and we look forward to seeing more success.”

In the same CNAS report, the greater Washington D.C. area was listed as a standout ecosystem for veterans. CIT recently secured a grant from the SBA as part of its Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) Program to “provide support for small businesses developing and commercializing high-risk technologies.” The FAST Program was created to support underrepresented entrepreneurs in the SBA’s SBIR and STTR programs, similar to CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund.

 To view the full list of CIT portfolio companies owned or led by veterans, please visit here.

About the Virginia Founders Fund
Launched in 2018, the Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) is focused on providing venture capital for Virginia’s traditionally underrepresented entrepreneurs. Proceeds from the Center for Innovative Technology’s (CIT) successful GAP Funds investment program are being reinvested into the Virginia economy through the VFF, which specifically supports female, minority or veteran founders, or other entrepreneurs located in regions outside of Northern Virginia who are emerging into sectors such as software, hardware, life science, cleantech, and technology-enabled services. The VFF works with regional startup initiatives, early-stage funds, and accelerator programs across the Commonwealth to identify strategic opportunities for investment and potential co-investment to leverage additional capital. For more information, please visit https://www.cit.org/virginiafoundersfund/.

About CIT GAP Funds
CIT GAP Funds makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean tech and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating significant economic return for entrepreneurs, co-investors and the Commonwealth of Virginia. CIT GAP Funds’ investments are overseen by the CIT GAP Funds Investment Advisory Board (IAB). This independent, third-party panel consists of leading regional entrepreneurs, angel and strategic investors, and venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, Valhalla Partners, Harbert Venture Partners HIG Ventures, Edison Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Intersouth Partners, SJF Ventures, Carilion Health Systems, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and Alpha Natural Resources. For more information, please visit www.citgapfunds.org.

About the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT)
Investing for Commonwealth Growth | CIT concentrates on the early commercialization and seed funding stages of innovation, helping innovators and tech entrepreneurs launch and grow new companies, create high paying jobs and accelerate economic growth throughout the entire state of Virginia. Founded in 1985, CIT accelerates next generation technologies and technology companies through commercialization, capital formation, market development initiatives, and expansion of broadband throughout Virginia. Our programs include | CIT GAP Funds | Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) | Virginia Founders Fund | Broadband/Rural Broadband | Smart Communities | Cybersecurity | Unmanned Systems | SBIR/STTR Support (Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs) | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. CIT’s CAGE Code is 1UP71. Contact: 2214 Rock Hill Road #600, Herndon, VA 20170 | 703.689.3000 | www.cit.orgYou can also follow CIT on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Taylor Hadley
LaunchTech Communications
978-877-2113
Taylor@goLaunchTech.com

Sara Poole
Center for Innovative Technologies
sara.poole@cit.org